"Why did you want to kill Little Qi? Whose ability were those two options just now?"

Lin Ye felt that something was off about all this.

"Why kill Little Qi? Because if I don't kill her, I can't become a Void Breaker... Why can't I become a Void Breaker if I don't kill her?"

Doctor Qi noticed the problem too;

cold sweat covered her forehead.

Lu Jian, clutching his neck and lying on the ground, also sensed the abnormality. The area was heavily virtualized;

there was no need for him to have fought so desperately here.

During that period just now, they had acted like feverish people, making one frenzied decision after another.

"So you didn't know? There are other void entities here too?"

Lin Ye turned to look at Little Qi.

"There weren't before. There are now."

Little Qi looked at the dismantled bodies. Brains floated up and down in the fluid, organs began to perform their functions, eyeballs rolled, lips and teeth moved.

"H...h...hello."

"Failed."

"You're very strong."

"Tw...o...use...less...ones."

"Too bad we couldn't kill that little guy."

"I...lost."

A dozen mouths spoke at once. Some mouths formed full sentences, others spoke single words that combined into one phrase. Listening to those mouths seriously would give most people a headache.

"You're a void entity? Why target us?"

Lin Ye asked curiously.

Other void entities wouldn't deliberately single someone out like this.

"Fate...as...such...you...must...die...here."

Those mouths formed the sentence with eerie fluency.

"But you lost. These two useless things still couldn't kill me."

Lin Ye didn't believe the entity could truly manipulate fate—otherwise he wouldn't be alive right now.

"Yeah."

"Waste of time."

"Manipulation failed."

"Trash."

"This body is too weak."

The mouths spoke again.

"Wait! You were created from my experimental materials, not a void entity!"

Doctor Qi scrambled up and lunged crazily toward the parts, but she suddenly changed direction and slammed into a nearby wall.

"You are... no longer needed."

"Trash."

"Waste of time."

The mouths said.

"What the hell are you! Give me back my experimental materials!"

Blood all over her head, Doctor Qi shouted angrily.

"Haven't you always wanted to see me?"

"Your wish...has been granted."

"This is the reward."

"Thank you for your contribution."

"You are...useless."

The mouths all wore joyful smiles, and the other parts cooperated by forming the grin of a dismantled corpse.

"...That accident was you? Why?"

Doctor Qi stared at the parts in disbelief.

She couldn't accept that she had been working for the void entity that killed her husband and daughter.

"I am a branch sub-body of Fate."

"The fate of this area is under my control."

"As for why..."

"Because it's interesting."

"Because that is your fate."

The mouths answered with smiles.

"Ahhhhhhhh!"

Doctor Qi raised the rifle with one hand and sprayed bullets crazily, but the rounds all struck the opposite wall, not even grazing Lin Ye. As those mouths had said, she was already useless.

"Are you done over there? Should we handle things on our side now?"

Lin Ye waited politely until Doctor Qi finished communicating with the void parts;

he had always been courteous.

"Finished."

"Sorry."

"Thank you for waiting."

The fate parts put away their smiles and turned their full attention to Lin Ye.

"You used that man to kill Little Qi because she could kill you? You're Fate—why not control her directly?"

Lin Ye didn't move at once. The opponent claimed to be Fate;

he didn't want to botch this.

"She already went through a fate choice."

"So she exists outside of Fate."

"By the way."

"Your mother tastes good."

The fate parts glanced at Little Qi and again showed that dismantled grin.

Little Qi wanted to be angry—the other party had made her into the killer of herself—but she felt no fury at all, because she had no understanding of what had happened;

imagination offered no concrete sensation.

"Don't cry. I'll help you erase that so-called Fate, not only this sub-body but that self-proclaimed Fate controller as well. So, lend me your power."

Lin Ye smiled too. The enemy shouldn't try to provoke Little Qi—such an obvious flaw he couldn't ignore.

Only Little Qi had the power to kill them.

The enemy provoked Little Qi.

The enemy wanted Little Qi to kill it.

So Little Qi couldn't be the one to kill it.

Then Lin Ye had to be the one to kill it, which meant that power could be lent to Lin Ye.

Why must Lin Ye kill it?

Because of the portal fragments.

Only if Lin Ye killed it would the final portal fragment drop.

Outside had already virtualized;

without collecting the portal fragments, they'd all die here.

That was the fate the opponent wanted to achieve.

That was Lin Ye's conclusion.

"Huh?"

Little Qi wiped her wet eyes. An indescribable sadness filled her chest. Tears streamed down her cheeks and dripped to the floor.

"...Then it's settled...you'd better not break your word..."

Little Qi covered her eyes and gripped Lin Ye's right hand. A strange power surged into Lin Ye's body.

That force did not strengthen his physique nor grant him a special ability, but it filled him with an invincible sense of certainty.

[Acquired Partial Special Fate Fragment *1]

"Didn't expect such a complete defeat."

"You made the right choice."

"But I'm ultimately only a sub-body."

"You cannot escape Fate's gaze."

"Goodbye."

Before Lin Ye tore it apart with the fishhook, the fate parts spoke calmly.

It did not resist, because that was its fate.

[Acquired Portal Fragment *1]

A mass of colorless fragments fell to the ground, and a green light gate appeared in the center of the laboratory.

Picking up the colorless fragments, Lin Ye took Little Qi toward the portal, but before entering, he swung the fishing rod and casually killed Doctor Qi, whose eyes had gone vacant.

He always kept his word.

No matter how much Doctor Qi's subjective consciousness had been involved, she had done wrong;

wrongdoers must be punished—that was common sense.

"I don't know what's on the other side of the gate. Do you want to go in with me?"

Lin Ye glanced at the lab's doorway. After the fate parts died, a swarm of void entities approached the lab;

the corridor had become a veritable pandemonium.

"I can't just stay here and wait to die!"

Although Little Qi didn't intend to refuse, she couldn't help blurting it out.

"No choice. This is the choice of Fate."

Lin Ye said with a smile.